Scores by composer

Alfred Reed

Alfred Reed was born on Manhattan Island in New York City on January 25, 1921. His formal music training began at the age of 10, when he studied the trumpet. As a teenager, he played with small hotel combos in the Catskill Mountains. His interests shifted from performing to arranging and composition. In 1938, he started working in the Radio Workshop in New York as a staff composer/arranger and assistant conductor. With the onset of World War II, he enlisted and was assigned to the 529th Army Air Corps Band. During his three and a half years of service, he produced nearly 100 compositions and arrangements for band. After his discharge, Reed enrolled at the Juilliard School of Music and studied composition with Vittorio Giannini. In 1953, he enrolled at Baylor University, serving as conductor of the Symphony Orchestra while he earned the Bachelor of Music degree (1955). A year later, he received his Master of Music degree. His interest in the development of educational music led him to serve as executive editor of Hansen Publishing from 1955 to 1966. He left that position to become a professor of music at the University of Miami, where he served until his retirement in 1993. After retirement, he continued to compose and made numerous appearances as guest conductor in many nations, most notably in Japan. At the age of 84, on September 17, 2005, Alfred Reed passed away after a short illness.

Armenian Dances (Part I)

In his Armenian Dances, Alfred Reed has captured many of the styles, tempos, and subtleties of the Armenian folk songs and dances. Part I, completed in 1972, is based on five authentic Armenian folksongs drawn from the vast collection of Gomidas Vartabed (1869 - 1935). Gomidas has been credited as the founder of Armenian classical music for his work on preserving and documenting over four thousand folk songs. The opening (The Apricot Tree) is a sentimental song with a declamatory beginning. The Partidge’s Song is an original song by Gomidas. Its simple, delicate melody was intended for a children’s choir and is symbolic of that bird’s tiny steps. A young man sings the praises of his beloved (named Nazan) in the lovely, lively love song Hoy, My Nazan. Alagyaz is the name of a mountain in Armenia represented by a beloved folk song that is as majestic as the mountain itself. Part I ends with a delightful and humorous laughing-song (Go, Go!) with an ever accelerating tempo.

Armenian Dances (Part II)

In his Armenian Dances, Alfred Reed has captured many of the styles, tempos, and subtleties of the Armenian folk songs and dances. Part II, performed today, was commissioned after the highly successful premiere of Part I and completed in 1977. The two parts comprise a full-length symphony. Reed, acting as arranger and composer, drew his inspirations from the vast collection of Gomidas Vartabed (1869 - 1935). Gomidas has been credited as the founder of Armenian classical music for his work on preserving and documenting over four thousand folk songs.

The first movement of Part II is Hov Arek (Come, Breeze). It portrays a scene both pastoral and melancholy as a peasant sings to the mountains pleading for a breeze to take away the oppressive heat and the rest of his woes. Khoomar is a female Armenian name. This movement is based on a light-hearted song that depicts how two young people meet and marry. The wedding dance conveys the joy and excitement of the occasion. Lorva Horovel is a plowing song from the district of Lori. The multiple themes in this movement are varied in rhythmic and melodic structure. They reflect the physical and spiritual feelings of the farmer as he proceeds with his work. The sheer effort of this undertaking sets a heavy tone to the movement as the brass and percussion make their introductory proclamations. The farmer pleads with his oxen to put themselves into the task. Good progress and bright spirits are represented by a fast dance common to Eastern Armenia. A slow and plaintive song (Giligia) tells of a longing for his country and lost homeland. The mood picks up with a presto dance theme that builds to a dramatic closing.

El Camino Real

Literally translated as "The Royal Road" or "The King's Highway", El Camino Real was commissioned by, and is dedicated to, the 581st Air Force Band (AFRES) and its Commander, Lt. Col. Ray E. Toler. Composed during the latter half of 1984 and completed in early 1985, it bears the subtitle: A Latin Fantasy.

The music is based on a series of chord progressions common to countless generations of Spanish flamenco guitarists, whose fiery style and brilliant playing have captivated millions of music lovers throughout the world. These progressions and the resulting key relationships have become practically synonymous with what we feel to be the true Spanish idiom. Together with the folk melodies they have underscored, in part derived by a procedure known to musicians as the "melodizing of harmony," they have created a vast body of what most people would consider authentic Spanish music.

Jota, while the second, contrasting section is derived from the Fandango, here altered considerably in both time and tempo from its usual form. Overall, the music follows a traditional three-part pattern: fast-slow-fast.

Russian Christmas Music

Sixth Symphony (the “Abraham Lincoln Symphony”) to be the American work. The Russian work was to have been Prokofiev’s March, Op. 99, but Harris discovered that it had already been performed in the United States (by Reed’s own organization). With just 16 days until the concert, Harris assigned Reed, already working for Harris as an aid, to compose a new Russian work for the concert. Scouring the Corp’s music library, Reed found an authentic 16th-century Russian Christmas Song “Carol of the Little Russian Children” to use for an introductory theme. Drawing on his investigations of Eastern Orthodox liturgical music for other thematic ideas, he completed the score of Russian Christmas Music in 11 days; copyists took another two days to prepare parts for rehearsal. The music was first performed on December 12, 1944, on a nationwide NBC broadcast. A concert performance was given in Denver two days later. In later years, Reed made minor changes to the instrumentation to suit a large ensemble, but tonight’s version is essentially the same as the original.

The liturgical music of the Eastern Orthodox Church is entirely vocal, admitting no instrumental music into the services. Alfred Reed has captured the sonorities, rhythmic inflections, clarity, and flowing phrases of the human voice in his composition. Although the work is in the form of a single movement, four distinct sections can be recognized. The opening “Carol” sets a restrained and gentle mood. The chant from the trombones and trumpets climaxes into the “Antiphonal Chant” carried by the woodwinds. The rhythm picks up for the “Village Song,” which is presented in two bar phrases that rise and fall with the liturgy. The church bells herald the final “Cathedral Chorus” that builds in a steady crescendo, pausing for a soft and sonorous chorale, before continuing with the introduction of additional instruments until all of the colors and intensity of the celebration fill the hall.

Viva Musica!

Commissioned by the VanderCook College of Music, Viva Musica! has been "dedicated to all who strive for excellence in the noble field of music education." The composer noted that while there have been may testimonials to the joy of making music, and to the joy of hearing it, there have been few dedicated to the joy of teaching it.

This composition is in the form of a single allegro movement marked "allegro brilliante", with an immediate statement of a basic motif out of which the entire texture is developed. Three elements (the basic, fanfare-like motif, a playful contrasting figure, and a broad lyrical line with its unusual rhythmic basis) make up the remainder of the music, ending with a final, joyous outburst of the basic motif in a lustrous and affirmative conclusion.